The World's finest Assassin / Ansatsu Kizoku

 Another Isekai manga that I read recently that was written by Redo of Healer author and this one is slightly on the upper curve for Isekai series if slightly generic at the moment. The World's finest assassin or Ansatsu Kizoku is an Isekai series which had a Professional Assassin reincarnated as the main character. Betrayed by the organization whom he served a lifetime as the finest Assassin, the main protagonist is given a second chance by a Goddess to retain the life experience from his former life along with some powerups in exchange of assassinating a Hero once the Demon Lord is slain in order to prevent the world's end. Thus the main protagonist is reborn in aristocrat family as a typical Isekai mary-sue only to face even more overpowered adversary taking the Hero's mantle.

 On Surface level, Ansatsu Kizoku is another Isekai series that tried to mimic the same success of Eminence in Shadow which turns out quite well with steady support for anime adaptation. Some difference is that the Harem size of the protagonist in Eminence in Shadow is smaller and the main protagonist is being less Chuuni. The author of Ansatsu Kizoku actually also happens to be Rance Series fans and just like Kaifuku Jutsushi, this series also had plenty of the worldbuilding aspects based on Rance series with a slight dash of Tears to Tiara. Considering the Demons that serve main adversary in the setting are based on Rance Mazokus which are near immortal being that can only be slain by Hero's special power. The Hero in Ansatsu Kizoku itself, is pretty much combination of Charlotte Dunois and Arios Theoman whose bond with the main protagonist will determine the ending of this series. As of now Ansatsu Kizoku works just fine as an Isekai series but time will tell if it will have enduring popularity that most Isekais unable to attain.

Ready Player One

 Couple years ago, this particular movie called Ready Player One attracted my attention because it had Gundam and it was the only western movie at that time and even until now that could get Gundam make a cameo appearance playing some significant role. While it is just an RX-78-2, it is still something very noteworthy nonetheless because there were never any that had such long screentime. Long Story short my recent trip to Japan allows me to see Ready Player One for what its worth.

Ready Player One is an action flick which feature am MMO virtual world known as Oasis. In the movie, The Oasis is massively popular online space where many people around the globe gather as their main source of entertainment until the hunting race for the legacy of the Oasis Creator which will determine Oasis Future begin. The main Protagonist, a prodigy with disadvantaged background took part of this Hunting Race undergoing a lifetime journey from Zero to Hero in the process pitting against Soulless evil corporate that partake the race for their sinister end.

 To be frank, I don't really care about the story or the main characters of Ready Player One at all because they are as bland and cliched as it gets, considering they are tailored to facilitate mainstream appeal. I just feel that the overly idealistic or desire to win Big embedded in American Movie psyche can get overbearing at times, but at least this movie still doesn't have the worse part of distorted worldview just yet back then. But I think this is the best that this movie could compromise because they have Spielberg on the helm.

 But if you can filter out the cliched stuff, Ready Player One is actually a wholesome treat for Pop Culture Fans and this one had plenty of the Japanese cameos with some big players ranging from Capcom, Kaijus and Mecha nonetheless which is a refreshing experience considering Japan Pop Culture tend to be overshadowed on Hollywood Productions. So if your power level high enough, you can really enjoy Ready Player One solely from the Cameos only just like me. I heard there are some plans for the Sequel and lets see how much Cameo that the future movie can bring onto the table.

Mechatalk Final Gear: Rebeyrca - Sharp Claws [Alter]

 Valkyrie, Blitz in! At this point Final Gear's fate is pretty much sealed as the game CN and TW server had received its last update after spending months in maintenance mode. However it does not mean that Final Gear Mechatalk will stop because I still have sufficient materials to be discussed. As I have returned to normal activity after my trip to Japan, The 15th Final Gear Mechatalk will be dedicated to Rebeyrca! The tomboyish childhood friend of Blackark Captain who had meteoric rise to the game's meta when she obtained her own mech and UR Upgrade.

Yami's Japan Trip 2023

 For those who regularly follow this blog, some will find it to be unusual that Realm of Darkness is inactive for almost 2 weeks given the resurgence of the blog over past few months. The reason of this period of inactivity is no other than this blog's very author went on 2 weeks trip to Japan! This blog's inception came from due to my personal fascination toward Japanese Pop Culture in particular mecha genre and to be frank it only took until now that I manage to visit the land of Rising Sun in person. Despite this fateful trip takes quite some time to be realized at long last, The experience is well worth it and It was truly an eye opening experience as I have seen many things in Japan whether it is the Good, Bad or The Ugly.

Konosuba 2nd Visual Novel game

 Konosuba might appear very inactive after the 2nd Season anime but unlike many popular LN adaptations, this series is actually supplemented quite generously with Video games to close the vacuum gap. During my recent trip to Japan, I managed to acquire several Konosuba games to make up my inactivity with this series. Among the Konosuba game hauls, I was able to secure a Switch copy for the 2nd Visual Novel game which is some sort sequel for the first one that I played on my Vita.

 Dubbed as Konosuba: Love for these Clothes of Desire, this VN plot begins with Kazuma's party encountering mysterious jet black slate which starts another chapter of misadventure of this misfit party. Long story short this magic item is capable of creating clothes out of thin air but this slate caused Kazuma's party personality turned 180 one at a time like Darkness turned into a sadist instead of her usual masochistic behavior. In any case I would expect this VN will offer solid fanservice for the Konosuba fans but nothing more and nothing less. Apparently there are plans to localize this Konosuba VN for PC and Switch with 2024 release date, but I would probably finished reading this VN by then. Given the popularity of the previous Konosuba VN posts, I might consider making one for this VN as well but hopefully that won't disrupt the localization plan in any manner. For the teaser here is the Darkness in her S mode.

Dune (2021)

 

 Normally this blog would have been more active given the productivity over the recent period. But for the past two weeks I was on my trip in Japan which will be covered on separate post in the future and I will just focus on discussing the newer movie adaptation of this legendary Scifi series. I didn't get to watch Dune new movie during the lockdown period 2 years ago but this Japan trip provide me the opportunity to do so and make me understand why Dune series is such a big deal in western Scifi genre. To put it simply, Dune is one of the biggest OG and supporting pillar of Sci-fi genre along with Starship Troopers which later inspire successful series like Warhammer 40k.

 The 2021 movie itself is overall solid experience for series newcomers that had hard time to stomach the 80s movie version which probably still lacked the means to bring the series into full flesh due to technology constraints. In any case Dune at its core is a Scifi series that had a Desert Planet inhabited with Giant Worms that produces chemicals which fuels humanity into spacefaring age as the main setting. While I find the author probably influenced too much by Lawrence of Arabia, Dune has a very fascinating worldbuilding that introduces many alien concepts yet still somehow believable which is a key ingredient for a good Scifi series. This is probably why Dune still survived for decades even after the Author's passing and even got new movie adaptation despite the series might not have the best mainstream appeal. In any case I will look forward to the second part of the new Dune movie which will conclude the cliffhangers that first movie left.

Mechatalk Final Gear: Corallium / Coral - Neural Test Unit

 Probably my last Final Gear Mechatalk before I return from my Overseas trip and this one will be abit more special, consider it as the early gift for Artery Gear collab with Final Gear. Usually I won't be covering the units that I haven't maxed up, but I will make an exception for this occassion as Corallium is the main star of the AG Collab and could have been the new main heroine standing along with Eve.if not for FG circumstances.

Gundam Seed Movie Metal Robot Spirits Immortal Justice Gundam

 
 Bandai really pulled a power move on the upcoming Gundam Seed Movie, upon the trailer release tons of merchandise got revealed all at once. Among Gunplas and other figures, Metal Robot Spirits is the most surprising one considering these sort of stuffs take longer time to develop, but the MRS rendition for new version of Freedom and Justice Gundam soon revealed shortly after the trailer. Both Freedom and Justice Gundam will be sold for 18000 Yen with February 2024 release schedule.

 From a first glance, Rising Freedom and Immortal Justice design trades of Firepower of their previous version in exchange for Mobility thus doesn't look like definitive successor of their Seed Destiny counterpart but I think there are still possibly more secrets will be revealed in time. This new design really appear to be heavily influenced by previous Sunrise series like Cross Ange and Buddy Complex considering SEED Director Fukuda helmed the former one. As Athrun fanboy to this day, to be honest Immortal Justice current armaments doesn't look like sufficient enough to be Rising Freedom equal and I hope this 3rd Incarnation of Justice Gundam got something worth hyping. Considering the backpack resemblance with Amatsu and Astray Blue Frame L, perhaps Immortal Justice would get some Giant Sword of sorts or maybe going 00 Gundam route, Considering SEED fans expectations are quite high enough after almost 2 decades of Vacuum and Bandai should be competent enough to capitalize this demand.

 As for the Gundam SEED Movie which will be dubbed Gundam SEED Freedom, I would expect the storyline could only continue either using F91 or Endless Waltz route which seem to be the most plausible choice given the present state of Gundam SEED Plotline as OMNI appears to be still the antagonist this time and need another major backer like Jupiter Empire of sorts. Personally I don't really have much hope on the storyline but as long as the action scene are good enough, most SEED fans like myself will be content. Lastly I think Shinn Asuka will get his own gundam later in the movie considering being stuck in Gyan for the whole movie duration is just a petty move by Fukuda.

Yami's Review on Monster Hunter Now

 It has been around 3 weeks since the Monster Hunter now release and as a former consummate Monster Hunter fan, I feel obligated to take a look of this Monster Hunter version of Pokemon Go. Actually I was planning to release this article earlier last month, but this instance would be actually more fitting as I have fought all of the monsters available in Monster Hunter Now first build which concluded with Rathalos. Long Story short, Monster Hunter Now passed flying color for me and I just realize now why People are crazed for Pokemon Go back then.

 Through cooperation of Niantic and Capcom utilising Augmented Reality technology integrated with Google Map. Monster Hunter Now offer more streamlined MonsterHunter experience for Mobile Phone users, providing bite sized hunts against assorted range of Monsters from this Capcom's best selling series. This game is literally a godsend for MH Vets like myself who still have fond memories with Monster Hunter but lacks the luxury of time to play their full fledged game anymore and I am happy that my hunting skill haven't rusted off badly despite left off from MH Rise 2 years ago.

 In MH Now I picked Lancelot as my Hunter Name because this is the name i used back in MHFU and for a good measures in other MH series barring MH3U. I will always be a Lance user first and foremost but considering MH Now didn't have this weapon at the current iteration, I stick with SnS which perform the task just fine.While MH Now gameplay is more simplified compared to the current MH Console game be it Iceborne or Sunbreak but the fundamentals remain the same and the Grinding part arguably feels more potentially painful because some common drops on console game is quite hard to obtain in the present state of MH Now. The only problem that I currently have with MH Now is the timer limit which have no workaround and it really gets punishing once you fight higher rarity monsters. To be honest as old school MH player, I really have hard time to get into newer MH Titles like Sunbreak which I find to be too flashy and not grounded enough especially with the Wirebug gimmicks, but Capcom at very least appear to try provide some middle ground with MH Now.

 While there are many issues that some fans have with MH Now, personally I find this game possibly have the best potential among the Monster Hunter games released up until now. Through almost 2 decades that Monster Hunter have journeyed through, this series had accumulated around 270+ main monsters but none of the Monster Hunter game able to bring the full force of this legendary series had which is why every new Monster Hunter feels overshadowed by Freedom Unite, at least for the old fans. And MH Now provide the opportunity for Capcom to bring the Might of their Monster Hunter series into full force if properly utilised and provide avenue for older hunters to relive their better memories. As long as the monetization option are not that greedy, People will keep flocking into MH Now because this game is good enough for the devoted fanbase of Monster Hunter.

Warhammer 40k Joytoy 1/18 Primarch Lion El Johnson

  Among so many Hobby Toy manufacturer, I got to say Joytoy is the best one at breaking people's wallet even compared to Bandai since their product output pace are just plain crazy releasing quality products after one another in 2023. For some reason Joytoy thinks Roboute Guilliman is not enough for this year and now they are releasing another of their 1/18 product for Grandpa Smurf brother who is no other than Lion El Johnson! the Primarch of first founding Space Marin chapter of Dark Angels. Joytoy Lion El Johnson will be scheduled for February 2024 release with 160 USD Price Tag.

  This announcement of Lion El Johnson product by Joytoy is a very big deal because Joytoy able to release this important character within the same year that Games Workshop have the Primarch of Dark Angels made its return in the 40k Storyline with a bang nonetheless. Seriously 2023 is both a blessing and a curse at the same time for 40k Fans because the series got another major plot progress then 40k Space Marines 2 coming up soon along with tons of Joytoy Merchandises which will get the fans wallet busted in no time! As for Joytoy Lion El Johnson release, it won't be the end because we could expect Joytoy coming in full swing soon with Dark Angels with the Hexagrammaton for starters.

 For extra 20 USD, Joytoy Lion El Johnson looks very majestic and even more grander than Roboute as Joytoy feels more generous on his wargear. In this rendition The Dark Angels Primarch comes with power sword that resembled his Lion Sword and Emperor's Shield then accompanied by mysterious followers only known as Watchers in the dark.With his wargear, from what I see Lion El Johnson would make an excellent HQ Killers with his ruthless efficiency making him a very effective duelist along with Emperor Shield that will protect him against many mortal wounds. With his psyker gift of teleportation, I wouldn't be surprised that Lion and His retinue would decapitate enemy HQ and then hop on to kill another one.

 In 40k fluff, Despite his aloof and distant personality, Lion El Johnson is one of the Primarch equally gifted in Strategic ability and Martial Prowess capable of giving a run for money against any of his brother primarch who tend to be more specialized. Lion's return to 40k storyline marks a chance of redemption for his Dark Angels as this secretive Space Marine chapter had been plagued with renegades known as the Fallen due to internal strife. Now these fallen Dark Angels are being given a chance to fight alongside their father once again as the Risen. As much as I grow to like Roboute as he gives his earnest to protect Humanity, I think in terms of personality I do relate more with Lion due to more personal similarities with this Primarch and I will give my attention for his story development along with his Dark Angels. Seriously I don't know if Joytoy can pull off anything grander this year after the reveal of Lion but there plenty of things they can still do with this Space Marine Chapter that evokes the vibes of Arthurian Legends.

The Kingdoms of Ruin

 Another promising fantasy manga that I encountered  recently and this one got the same vibe with Jinrouki Winvurga even if it doesn't have any mecha. In a world of Futuristic Science and Magic where female existence that possess magical power called Witches are being hunted down, The Kingdoms of Ruin is an adventure of a young man who went on a quest of revenge against human civilization after his mentor got unfairly executed for being a witch. Armed with magical knowledge for his quest of vengeance, this young apprentice is accompanied by a young witch whom had particular fateful encounter with the protagonist.

Considering the similarity in vibe with series like Akame ga Kiru or Winvurga, Kingdom of Ruin doesn't hesitate when it comes to the gorefest as the mangaka of this series doesn't hesitate many characters in this series died in horrible ways as the Witches are being hunted down by humans mercilessly using technology. I would say the series had good potential in world building and the romance between the main protagonists also look quite promising as they will survive through many hardships by relying on one another. Time will tell if this series will succeed or not but this is another manga that I will keep a tab on.